Title

Author

Date of Award

Spring 5-13-2016

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Education (MSEd)

Department

Education and Human Development

First Advisor

Sue Robb

Abstract

The question that guided this study is: how can we use social media that our students are already fluent in, to engage them more in the classroom? The purpose of the study was to find out if teachers in the district where I work are using social media in their classrooms and if not, what objections or hesitations they have with social media. For the procedures, I interviewed elementary teachers in the district where I work, about how they use social media in their classroom and possible objections or challenges they might face in its use in the classroom. I was able to get the perspectives of 10 teachers, spanning grade levels of Kindergarten to Sixth Grade. The findings that were discovered from my data analysis were: 1) forms of social media are already being implemented, 2) teachers feel supported with the technology in their classrooms, 3) teachers view their tech savvy students as a positive, 4) despite concerns, most teachers recommend using social media for teachers. I was able to conclude from the findings that teachers are implementing a variety of social media modes successfully and see how it is positively impacting their students, and the objections that teachers have with using social media in their classrooms seems to be validated by research studies.